Shares in Safestyle plummeted on Monday after the double-glazing windows and doors firm issued a profits warning and announced the departure of its chairman.

The Bradford-based group said it has been stung by an "aggressive new market entrant" which is eating into its customer base, particularly its sales and canvass divisions.

It also again pointed to declining consumer confidence.

"The activities of this competitor have intensified and the group has taken longer to rebuild its order intake to the rate previously anticipated, and has also experienced cost increases as management takes the necessary actions to address these challenges.

"The board now expects group revenues and underlying profit before tax for the year ending 31 December 2018 to be significantly below current market expectations with profits for the year expected to be heavily weighted to the second half."

Shares crashed 21% following the update.

To compound matters, Safestyle intends to cancel its final dividend of 7.5p a share as it scrambles to strengthen its balance sheet.

As part of the update, the firm also said chairman Steve Halbert has resigned from the board with immediate effect.

Non-executive Peter Richardson has been appointed as replacement.

He said: "I am now looking forward to working with the board and the executive team during what is a challenging period for the group as it undertakes a number of actions to emerge as a stronger, fitter, more agile business."

Last year, the company cited figures from repair, maintenance and improvement industry body Fensa, which showed overall market installations had dropped 18% throughout June and July compared with 2016.